CHAPTER X
THE COMING OF THE KA
Now it was morning, and while the physicians embalmed the body ofPharaoh as best they could, Tua consulted with her officers. Long andearnest was that council, for all of them felt that their danger wasvery great. Abi had escaped, and if he were re-taken, none knew betterthan he that his death and that of all his House would be the reward ofhis crimes and sorceries which could only be covered up in one way--bymarriage with the Queen of Egypt. Moreover, he had thousands of soldiersin the city and around it, all of them sworn to his service, whereas theroyal guard was but five companies, each of a hundred men, trapped in asnare of streets and stone.
One of them suggested that they should break a way through the wall ofthe temple, and escape to the royal barges that lay moored on the Nilebeneath them, and this plan was approved. But when they went to setabout the work it was seen that these barges had been seized and werealready sailing away up the river. So but two alternatives remained--tobide within the fortifications of the old temple, and send outmessengers for help, or to march through the city boldly, break down thegates if these were shut against them, seize boats, and sail up the Nilefor some loyal town, or if that could not be done, to take their chancein the open lands.
Now some favoured one scheme, and some the other, so that at last thedecision was left with her Majesty. She thought awhile, then said:
"Here I will not stay, to be starved out as we must ere ever an armycould be gathered to rescue us, and be given into the power of that vileand wicked man, the murderer of the good god, my father. Better thatI should die fighting in the streets, for then at least I shall passundefiled to join him in his eternal habitation beyond the sun. We marchat midnight."
So they bowed beneath her word, and made ready while the women of hishousehold raised a death-wail for Pharaoh, and criers standing on thehigh towers proclaimed the accession of Neter-Tua, Morning-Star of Amen,Glorious in Ra, Hathor, Strong in Beauty, as sole Lord and Sovereign ofthe North and South, and of Egypt's subject lands. Again and again theyproclaimed it, and of the multitudes who listened some cheered, but themost remained silent, fearing the vengeance of their Prince, whom theheralds summoned to do homage, but who made no sign.
Night came at last. At a signal the gates were opened, and through them,borne upon the shoulders of his Councillors, preceded by a small bodyof guards, and followed by his women and household, went the remains ofPharaoh, in a coffin roughly fashioned from the sycamore timbers of thetemple. With solemn step and slow, they went as though they feared noharm, the priests and singers chanting some ancient, funeral hymn. Nextfollowed the baggage bearers, and after these the royal bodyguard in themidst of whom the Queen, clad in mail, as a man, rode in a chariot, andwith her the waiting-lady, Asti, wife of Mermes.
At first all went well, for the great square in front of the temple wasempty. The procession of the body of Pharaoh passed it, and vanisheddown the street that led to the main gate, a mile away. Now the guardformed into line to enter this street also, when suddenly, barring themouth of it, appeared great companies of men who had been hidden inother streets.
A voice cried "Halt!" and while the guards re-shaped themselves into asquare about the person of the Queen, an embassy of officers, among whomwere recognised the four lawful sons of Abi, advanced and demanded inthe Prince's name that her Majesty should be given over to them,saying that she would be treated with all honour, and that those whoaccompanied her might go free.
"Answer that the Queen of Egypt does not yield herself into the hands ofrebels, and of murderers; then fall on them, and slay them all," criedNeter-Tua when Mermes, her captain, had given her this message.
So he went forward and returned the answer, and next moment a flight ofarrows from the Queen's guard laid low the four sons of Abi, and most ofthose who were with them.
Then the fight began, one of the fiercest that had been known in Egyptfor many a generation. The royal regiment, it is true, was but small,but they were picked men, and mad with despair and rage. Moreover, Tuathe Queen played no woman's part that night, for when these charged,striving to cut a path through the opposing hosts, she charged withthem, and by the moonlight was seen standing like an angry goddess inher chariot, and loosing arrows from her bow. Also no hurt came to heror those with her, or even to the horses that drew her. It was as thoughshe were protected by some unseen strength, that caught the sword cutsand turned aside the points of spears.
Yet it availed not, for the men of Abi were a multitude, and the royalguard but very few. Slowly, an ever-lessening band, they were pressedback, first to the walls of the old temple of Sekhet, and then withinits outer court. Now all who were left of them, not fifty men under thecommand of Mermes, strove to hold the gate. Desperately they fought, andone by one went down to death beneath the rain of spears.
Tua had dismounted from her chariot, and leaning on her bow, for all herarrows were spent, watched the fray with Asti at her side. With a yellthe troops of Abi rushed through the gate, killing as they came. Now,surrounded by all who remained to her, not a dozen men, they were drivenback through the inner courts, through the halls, to the pylon stairs.
Here the last stand was made. Step by step they held the stairs, tillat length there were left upon their feet only Tua, Asti and Mermes, herhusband, who was sorely wounded in many places. At the little landingbetween the rooms of the Queen and Asti while the assailants paused amoment, the Captain Mermes, mad with grief and pain, turned and kissedhis wife. Next he bowed before the Queen, saying:
"What a man may do, I have done to save your Majesty. Now I go to makereport to Pharaoh, leaving you in charge of Amen, who shall protect you,and to Rames, my son, the heritage of vengeance. Farewell, O Daughter ofAmen, till I see your star rise in the darkness of the Under-World, andto you, beloved wife, farewell."
Then, uttering the war-cry of his fathers, those Pharaohs who once hadruled in Egypt, the tall and noble Mermes grasped his sword in both hishands, and rushed upon the advancing foe, slaying and slaying until hehimself was slain.
"Come with me, O Wife of a royal hero," said Tua to Asti, who hadcovered her eyes with her hand, and was leaning against the wall.
"Widow, not wife, Queen. Did you not see his spirit pass?"
Then Tua led her up more steps to the top of the pylon tower, where Astisank down moaning in her misery. Tua walked to the outermost edge of thetower and stood there waiting the end. It was the moment of dawn. Onthe eastern horizon the red rim of the sun arose out of the desert ina clear sky. There upon that lofty pinnacle, clad in shining mail, andwearing a helm shaped like the crown of Lower Egypt, Tua stood in itsglorious rays that turned her to a figure of fire set above a world ofshadow. The thousands of the people watching from the streets below, andfrom boats upon the Nile, saw her, and raised a shout of wonder and ofadoration.
"The Daughter of Amen-Ra!" they cried. "Behold her clad in the glory ofthe god!"
Soldiers crept up the stairs to the pylon roof and saw her also, while,now that the fray was ended, with them came the Prince Abi.
"Seize her," he panted, for the stairs were steep and robbed him of hisbreath.
But the soldiers looked and shrank back before the Majesty of Egypt,wrapped in her robe of light.
"We fear," they answered, "the ghost of Pharaoh stands before her."
Then Neter-Tua spoke, saying:
"Abi, once a Prince of Egypt and Hereditary Lord of Memphis, but now anoutcast murderer, black with the blood of your King, and of many a loyalman, hear me, the anointed Queen of Egypt, hear me, O man upon whom Idecree the judgment of the first and second death. Come but one stepnear to my Majesty, and before your eyes, and the eyes of all themultitude who watch, I hurl myself from this hideous place into thewaters of the Nile. Yet ere I go to join dead Pharaoh, and side by sidewith him to lay our plaint against you before the eternal gods, listento our curse upon you. From this day forward a snake shall prey uponyour vitals, gnawing upwards to your heart. The spirits
of Pharaoh andof all his servants whom you have slain shall haunt your sleep; nevershall you know one more hour of happy rest. Through life henceforth youshall fly from a shadow, and if you climb a throne, it shall be sucha one as that on which I stand encircled with the perilous depths ofdarkness. Thence you shall fall at last, dying by a death of shame, andthe evil gods shall seize upon you, O Traitor, and drag you to the mawof the Eater-up of Souls, and therein you shall vanish for ever foraye, you and all your House, and all those who cling to you. Thus saithNeter-Tua, speaking with the voice of Amen who created her, her fatherand the god of gods."
Now when the soldiers heard these dreadful words, one by one they turnedand crept down the stairs, till at last there were left upon the pylonroof only the Queen, Asti crouching at her feet, and the monstrous Abi,her uncle.
He looked at her, and thrice he tried to speak but failed, for the wordschoked in his throat. A fourth time he tried, and they came hoarsely:
"Take off your curse, O mighty Queen," he said, "and I will let you go.I am old, to-night all my lawful sons are dead; take off your curse,leave me in my Government, and though I desire you more than the throneof Egypt, O Beautiful, still I will let you go."
"Nay," answered the Queen, "I cannot if I would. It is not I who spoke,but a Spirit in my mouth. Do your worst, O son of Set. The curse remainsupon you."
Now Abi shook in the fury of his fear, and answered:
"So be it, Star of Amen, having nothing more to dread I will do myworst. Pharaoh my enemy is dead, and you, his daughter, shall be my wifeof your own free will, or since no man will lay a finger upon you, herein this tower you shall starve. Death is not yet; I shall have my day,it is sworn to me. Reign with me if you will, or starve without me ifyou will--I tell you, Daughter of Amen, that I shall have my day."
"And I tell you, Son of Set, that after the day comes the long terror ofthat night which knows no morrow."
Then finding no answer, he too turned and went.
When he was gone Neter-Tua stood a while looking down upon the thousandsof people gathered in the great square where the battle had been fought,who stared up at her in a deadly silence. Then she descended from thecoping-stone, and, taking Asti by the arm, led her from the roof to thelittle chamber where she had slept.